“Twilight! Twilight!”
Finally, Twilight felt the motion of being shook and heard somepony – or rather, somedragon – talking to her. “Urgh. . . .” She opened her eyes and found her number-one assistant, back again from the kitchen, desperately shaking her awake. “What just happened?” she asked him.
“You were sleeping, Twilight.” Spike got off of her and the bed. “I was wondering when you’d wake up. I’ve been calling you down for a while, but when you didn’t come I tried shaking you awake.” He chuckled. “Guess you were really out of it, huh?”
“Yeah, crazy dream.” She yawned. “I guess final exams really have an effect on me.”
“You just needed some sleep, apparently,” Spike explained. “And some lunch, too – now c’mon! It’s not like it’s getting any fresher.”
“Alright, alright, I’m on my way.” As she got up onto her hooves, Twilight looked on the side table – the object Spike found, her Fragment, was gone. So maybe it was not a dream after all, she thought. But how would I explain such a thing?
Once Twilight got down to the dining table, she saw the same daisy sandwich she saw Spike making, waiting for her. Glancing out the window, she saw it was still raining, but otherwise it was still daytime. She sat down with Spike and took a bite. “The first taste of summer,” she murmured to herself.
Spike rolled his eyes. “I’m guessing that book you got was so boring you fell asleep,” he remarked.
“Oh, no.” Twilight set the sandwich down. “Quite the opposite! I found myself just enraptured by this one section I was reading. It took me on a journey through time and space – ”
“Twilight. You need some food.” He pointed at her sandwich. “I’m sure whatever you’re talking about is world-changing, but you can tell me about it when you’re done.”
She sighed, and resumed eating. Milky Way, Black Hole, the other girls – they all felt so real to her, and yet it would be unbelievable even to Spike, who was by her side from the day he was hatched.
She had half a mind to return that book to the bookstore – but then, for the same reason, would they actually listen to her? The most they’ll do is consider reshelving it in the fiction section, and not write back to the publisher with her complaint.
Guess I’ll just have to live with my buy, she ultimately decided. And who knows? There might be something else in there worth reading about.
Once he noticed that she was finished with her sandwich, Spike suggested, “Say, would you mind coming with me downtown real quick?”
Twilight raised an eyebrow. “What for?”
“Well, uh. . . .” Spike scratched the back of his neck. “Moondancer might be having a party in the Canterlot Castle courtyard. Thought I’d get her something before we head to Ponyville. What do you think?”
Twilight put a hoof to her chin. “I’ll think about it, if we have the time for it. In the meantime, why don’t we start getting ready for tomorrow’s trip to Ponyville?” She teleported a checklist in front of her.
“Well. . . .” He got up from the table. “If you ask me, I’d rather you go back to telling me about your ‘journey through time and space’ or something like that.”
“Why not both?” She grabbed the list in her magic, and unfurled it. “The faster we work, the more I’ll tell you. Sound good?” She passed it to Spike.
With a smirk, Spike started them off. “First. . . .”
☆
The next day, just as scheduled, was much more like summer. Twilight checked out her bedroom window – the rainwater had already been drained from the streets of Canterlot, but Twilight would have to be careful not to muddy her hooves on her way to Ponyville.
Well, regardless, she’d cross that bridge when she got there. She grabbed her saddlebags and The Elements of Harmony, and went to the door.
“Will you be gone long?” Spike called out to her.
“I’ll just be down at the park,” she responded. “Might be all day. Are you going to be okay by yourself?”
“Uh, yeah! Totally! I’ll be fine!” Spike sounded like he was trying to get her out of the dorm room in a hurry. “See you later!”
It’s probably nothing. She waved Spike goodbye and shut the door behind her.
It was a lovely day out that day. The streets were somewhat busy, with ponies all leaving the city for Ponyville. She was surprised not to see more of them heading there – but then, perhaps they were disappointed it would not be in Canterlot.
Oh well, she thought. Can’t have them all. She still remembered the Summer Sun Celebration five years ago – a very low attendance from the Canterlot élite, simply because it was held in Appaloosa.
“Hey Twilight!”
Twilight looked up to see Sea Swirl waving at her. “Hey!” she called back. “Thought you’d be at the beach right now.”
“That can wait,” she replied “I wouldn’t miss the thousandth Summer Sun Celebration for the world! You comin’ or what?”
“I’ll be there eventually.” Twilight tapped her saddlebags. “I’m just going down to the park for now.”
“Don’t take too long – their town hall fills up fast!” And with that, Sea Swirl disappeared down the road.
As Twilight was turning her head back forward, she thought she caught a glimpse of a certain green and violet dragon skulking down the streets. It was gone before she could get a better look. I might have to have a talk with him when I get back to the dorm, she thought. What is he up to right now? Is he still focused on Moondancer’s party? He should know perfectly well we don’t have time for that sort of thing.
When she got to Mustang Park, she noticed how empty and quiet it was. She only heard a few birds chirping overhead in a clear blue sky. Even though she knew perfectly well how Cloudsdale’s rainstorms worked, she couldn’t help but marvel even now at how cleanly they worked – it was always a night-and-day difference, as a rule. I wonder why Cloudsdale rarely ever holds a Summer Sun Celebration.
She looked to her left, and saw the park fountain running – the same fountain that had been there for all her life, all her parents’ lives – centuries, really. It was adorned atop with an armillary sphere, showing the sun and the moon hovering and moving above the surface of Equestria. Twilight wondered what it was like to manipulate them, literally day in and day out. But then, she realized, those are heavy and important tasks. Plus, I’d have much greater responsibilities than just those.
From her right, she heard some prominent clip-clopping of horseshoes on cobblestone, and wood being dragged. She turned to see a groundskeeper, dragging along a wooden bin with several gardening tools in it. “Mornin’, Miss Sparkle,” he greeted through clenched teeth. “Heading down to Ponyville soon?”
“Yeah,” she answered. “I’ve got a bit of light reading to do first.”
The groundskeeper chuckled. “Gardens close at sunset,” he told her. “Be out before then.”
She found a nice, shady spot by the pond, laid down with the book in front of her, and opened it up. She distinctly remembered the poëm from the day before, so when she flipped back to page 313 and read it again, she finally understood its meaning:
A flurry of stars, assembling here
For when the daily night draws near:
Eleven girls, each one a peer
To one another, soon appear.
One brave, adventurous with cheer,
One boasting bright, one often blear,
One swift, one prim, one without fear,
One with her pets, one’s beat they hear,
One well-read, one not so austere,
And one composing song in drear.
As she read, the memories of her exploits with Milky Way and the other Galaxy Girls came flooding back vividly – flaring a brightly-burning star with the Sun, digging up a satellite using poëtry with the Moon, seeing Mercury run rapid orbits around the star, watching Venus put on a dance, exploring Mars’s oh-so-bizarre art gallery, nearly becoming another of Jupiter’s pets, mixing up a storm with Saturn, reading – and then searching – all those books with Uranus (which may have been her favorite part), surfing the Kuiper Sea with Neptune, and quite literally rocking out with Pluto. Not to mention, of course, stopping Black Hole dead in his tracks before he could destroy the universe – and her with it. All told, good times all around.
She blinked. When she looked at the page again, two more lines had suddenly appeared at the end:
Know all them well, and keep them dear,
Lest these eleven disappear.
“Thank you, Milky Way,” she murmured. “Thank you for showing me an adventure through a vast and awesome universe – with your newfound friends, as well. And thank you especially, Moon, for ultimately sending me back once we were done.” She sighed. “For as long as I may live, I’ll try not to forget any of you, or what you all have done for me.” She smiled softly, fondly, wistfully even – then turned back to the book’s table of contents.
She saw a few entries with “Star Swirl the Bearded” in the title, but despite looking up to him, she felt no gravitational pull to them.
“‘Romance of the Six Friends’?” she pondered aloud. “What’s this about?” This one was placed at the very end of the list, so out of curiosity, she turned to page 926 – and saw that one of them was an alicorn, definitely not Celestia. Though that dragon certainly looks an awful lot like Spike. . . . She shook her head, and went back to the table of contents.
“Hmm. . . how about ‘The Elements of Harmony’?” The book’s title work, evidently – and this was on something she’d faintly heard of before, but couldn’t put her hoof on exactly where. She flipped to page 101 – and saw it was much longer than Milky Way’s entry, with full-color illustrations to boot. Must be pretty important to get this kind of treatment, she thought. She started reading.
Once upon a time, the story opened, in the magical land of Equestria. . . .